Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Pro-immigrant groups plan "massive" march during DNC; "invite" Obama to join them

A coalition of immigrant rights advocates announced plans today to hold a massive parade and rally during the Democratic National Convention in August.

Organizers said they hope the August 26 march – which they have dubbed the “We Are America” march – will draw as many as 50,000 people from across the country. Nita Gonzales, the president of Escuela Tlatelolco, said at a mid-day news conference in front of the state Democratic Party’s headquarters that similar announcements took place today in Los Angeles and Bakersfield, Calif., by groups that planned to travel to Denver for the march.

The groups – including Escuela Tlatelolco, Padres y Jovenes Unidos and NEWSED – hope the march will raise the profile of immigration reform issues during the convention. Among the coalition’s goals are the passage of the DREAM act, which would make it easier for states to offer in-state tuition to students who are illegal immigrants, the elimination of the border wall and the cessation of immigration raids such as the one at the Swift meatpacking facility in Greeley in December 2006.

Another dicey one for Barack:

The groups invited presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama to march with them.

“This is the moment for him to demonstrate his support,” said Leticia Mendoza, a North High School student who spoke at the announcement today.

But, even as plans go forward for the march, it remains unclear exactly what path the march will take. Escuela Tlatelolco is part of an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit against Denver that asks the groups be allowed to take a route different than the designated parade route through downtown past Pepsi Center, where the convention will be held.

Gonzales said the groups want the parade to start at Viking Park, in west Denver, and proceed down Speer Boulevard before ending at Sunken Gardens Park, near West High School.

“We want to come from the west, which is the bulk of our community,” Gonzales said.

“We have a right to march,” she added. “We have a right to voice our concerns.”

So petulant, so Spagnuolean. For the thousandth time, nobody is saying they can't march or "voice their concerns." But just like Recreate68 (of which at least Escuela Tlatelolco is a part) what they're demanding is special treatment amounting to exemption from the law.

Gonzales said the march is not meant to be a protest of the Democratic Party or its immigration platform, which she called, “awesome.” Instead organizers hope the march will remind party leaders to keep immigration issues at the forefront.

“Whoever becomes the next president needs to step up and work with us,” said Minsun Ji, the executive director of El Centro Humanitario para los Trabajadores, “because we need a real change.”

Update: Escuela Tlaltelolco, by the way, is a "Freedom School," following a curriculum with its roots in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Whatever the curriculum's usefulness then, it's become a method of leftist indoctrination. In an exchange at Eduwonkette recently, Sol Stern noted this Freedom School reading list: